More than 4,000 injured, sick or orphaned wild animals end up at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley yearly for treatment and rehabilitation. But their stay at the center is unlike the experience a lost dog or cat receives at a kennel.

None of the wild animals receive nicknames or have much interaction with humans, but all of this is done by design.

On an acre of land near Penitencia Creek County Park, three full-time and four part-time employees work year-round to care for wild animals that are ailing, at times due to human actions.

The center doesn’t turn away any wild species. So during its busy season, which will begin in the next couple of weeks, 200 to 300 animals will fill every square inch of the center’s small hospital and its multiple enclosures.

The center will help birds that have flown into windows, coyotes that have contracted mange, skunks that hurt themselves after getting their heads stuck in small food containers, or animals that look to have been orphaned for one reason or another.

The staff works on a relatively tight budget of about $389,000 a year. Because of that, the center relies heavily on its approximately 120 volunteers to help feed and care for the animals.

One of those volunteers is Saratoga resident Lisa Connie, the center’s hummingbird specialist. Connie, a lawyer, began volunteering in 1998 when work was beginning to overwhelm her time.

She said was looking for something that would fulfill her when her mother came across the center’s “baby shower” fundraiser. The center was looking for people to donate money, along with soaps and other items to use to help care for the influx of baby animals that come in during the spring time.

Connie began volunteering immediately and started by caring for birds of prey. Seven years ago she began caring exclusively for hummingbirds.

Now she keeps an “incubator” with her wherever she goes. The incubator is a lunch box with a heating unit inside to ensure a proper temperature for the baby hummingbirds she has to feed every 15 minutes.

She says the experience is rewarding.

“I need to be able to give back to the community and the animals,” she said.

Although human action causes many of the ailments the animals the center are suffering from, there are people out there who want to help–sometimes to the detriment of the animal.

The center receives calls from people concerned that hummingbird babies have been abandoned. Staff and volunteers always make sure to ask, “Have you watched them every second of the day? No bathroom breaks?”

The mother hummingbird moves so fast that most people don’t realize she has come back to feed the babies, staff says.

Connie also points to a video on YouTube recorded years ago by a Saratogan who was caring for abandoned baby hummingbirds. Although the person thought they were doing the right thing, Connie points out that in the video you can see the babies peeping.

“They only peep when they’re hungry,” she said.

People should always turn the animals over to the care of professionals, Connie said. Most people have no idea how to care for a wild animal and can do more harm than good.

“People feed the baby birds just sugar water because they think, ‘Well that’s what I put in my hummingbird feeder.’ But what they don’t know is that the momma bird is feeding them bugs and getting them the protein and nutrients they need. Feeding them sugar water is like giving a kid cotton candy and leaving out the Brussels sprouts,” she said.

Educating the public

People mean well by taking in the animals, the center’s staff says, but usually the interaction turns out worse for one or both parties involved.

When people take in a baby squirrel, staff says, they can end up treating it more like a domesticated animal than the wild animal it is. When the animal grows up, it can cause havoc for the person and have learned not to be scared of humans.

“You’re definitely creating a situation where you’re blurring the lines between wildlife and domestic animals. And that’s something that’s really important that we don’t do. There should be a healthy respect for wildlife and keeping them wild,” said Jennifer Constantin, outreach and education director.

Constantin goes into schools and attends multiple events each year in hopes of educating people on wild animals and promoting a healthy coexistence with them. Constantin usually brings one of the center’s “public ambassadors,” animals that could not be released back out into the wild.

One of those is Olive, a western screech owl, who had fallen out of her nest in Los Gatos a year ago. Attempts to completely repair her broken leg were unsuccessful. So she was given a name and went through training to become an ambassador.

Caring for the sick and injured

A lot of what the center does happens in an area most people will never see.

In the center’s hospital Ashley Kinney, wildlife rehabilitation supervisor, oversees the care of the animals brought in by animal control services or good Samaritans.

Not all animals can be helped, but many do get a second chance at life.

Last September a coyote was brought in with a severe case of mange, a skin disease caused by an infestation of mites. The coyote was also dehydrated and malnourished. After six months of care, the coyote was able to be released back into the wild.

Another success story involves a peregrine falcon that had flown into electrical wires in Sunnyvale in February 2010. The left side of its body was badly singed with severe tissue damage. Most experts said the bird was too far gone to live. Kinney disagreed.

Instead of euthanizing the falcon, the center’s staff worked around the clock to care for the bird. In a week the bird will be released back into the wild.

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